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Day: December 10, 2011

I retired from full-time work yesterday. I have left at a time of economic uncertainty and indeed I have been able to take early retirement due to being made redundant because of the Government’s public spending cutbacks.

I should feel somewhat concerned about the future, both my own personal one and the future for the rest of us in an age of economic downturn and the threat of yet another recession.

But I do not feel depressed at all. I have plans to extend my learning using the wonderful online opportunities to learn that are available these days with courses on all subjects from the great centres of education from across the world.

In the wider world picture I have found three young people this week who have given me hope for the future. Here are the links I saved in my Diigo account:

These stories show me that we have some really outstanding talent in our younger generation. Not only are they outstanding in terms of their personal qualities but they have an outlook that wants to help their fellow human beings.

Kyle Thiermann is a 21 year old surfer who has used his surfing connections to help people to understand about the investments that large banks have made that have led to economic exploitation in countries such as Chile. He has been able to get people to change their investment to local,environmentally friendly banks.

Travis Allen made a YouTube video whilst in high school about the need to promote mobile (specifically iPad) learning. The article that I have linked to above shows just how far he has come in promoting his environmentally friendly ideas. He has become a keynote speaker in many conferences and recently attended the Google Zeitgeist Conference where he met other leading “movers and shakers” from all over the world. He has started his own company that promotes paper-free ideas and the advantages of using new technology to promote effective learning in schools and colleges.

Angela Zhang is 17 years old and she’s just been awarded the $100,000 Grand Prize in the Individual category of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology. Her project was entitled “Design of Image-guided, Photo-thermal Controlled Drug Releasing Multifunctional Nanosystem for the Treatment of Cancer Stem Cells.”

Here is a High School student who has developed a means for trying to locate and destroy cancer stem cells which could have far-reaching impact on the ability of the medical profession to combat this horrible disease in the future.

These are just three of many many thousands of amazing young people who give me hope for the future. So, as I go out into the unknown that is my retirement I feel that I have a lot to look forward to and, with amazing young people such as Kyle, Travis and Angela , so do the rest of us.